Good Content, Or Great Content? What's The Difference?
Posted by Jennah Mitchell on Wed, Jan 04, 2012
In the discipline of content development, adjectives such as "good," "great," "engaging," "thorough," and "excellent" are often thrown around with little thought to what those words truly mean.
In fact, with so many websites offering up severely sub-par and grammatically painful content, it is no wonder that the average person's gauge for what makes content "good" is rarely an accurate viewpoint. To better understand the difference between content that is merely good and content that is truly great, let's look at three key areas of comparison:
1. Verbiage2. Style3. ResearchIn terms of verbiage, content development often teeters on the edge of language that is far too cavalier and relaxed for the intended audience and language that is much more advanced and technical than what the subject matter requires. This is especially true of content mill-type writing that focuses solely on quantity over the overall quality of a piece of written work. The ability to accurately pinpoint both the needs of the target market as well as the way that market best receives information is what separates the proverbial "men from the boys." in terms of content development greatness. Anyone can take a topic and write about it, both in low and high-quality verbiage, but the difference between good and great content comes in taking the extra step and defining what words will make the highest impact and, also, understanding why.With style, the same is also true, although content development and style tend more toward the side of knowing how a target audience will best receive the information given. Age range plays a large role in this, as does political and religious views. For example, if a dental office is looking to write a blog post about the benefits of their new teeth-whitening service, they must first make sure that their verbiage lines up with their clientele. Then comes the points of style. If their target audience is families and young people, a good stylistic tactic may be to weave an engaging storyline into their text that will appeal to the family-oriented, value-driven aspects that fits the stereotype of that audience. Likewise, if their target market is business execs and middle-aged people, they may want to approach their content with a style that is more indicative of importance, the value of teeth aesthetics to their careers, and more.Finally, in regards to research, the line between good content and great content becomes quite apparent. Either content and the desired audience was well researched or it was not. This makes all the difference in the world, especially in industries with a highly discerning and intuitive customer base.
While research does play a role in determining what verbiage and style to use, it really comes into play in determining the how and why for the content in the first place. Good content, while well-written and perhaps even very relevant, will miss the mark when it comes to its ability to be passed on from person to person. Great content has the ability to relate to people deeply, urging them to share it with their friends, family, and co-workers.